You always have to be careful for trick plays when you play the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The South Florida Bulls have fallen victim to three of them against Rutgers in recent years -- a fake field goal and a fake punt in 2007, and a wide receiver pass by Mohamed Sanu last year. The field goal fake and the pass by Sanu both went for touchdowns, and after watching Sanu's pass unfold in slow motion from the sideline in the two teams' last meeting, USF coach Skip Holtz realizes that you can never sleep on Greg Schiano's team.
"He's going to run fake field goals and fake punts and trick plays... You've got to guard against it. You have to make sure you cross the t's and dot the i's. A field goal or a PAT is not just a play off. You have to make sure you stay focused on your man and who you have in coverage. If you're sleeping, that's one that will come up."
The Bulls don't have the strongest track record defending trick plays -- the two in 2007 were among several that burned them during their slide out of the national rankings that year. Earlier this season, the UTEP Miners fooled USF with a fake punt, and the concussion Terrence Mitchell sustained wiping out Miners punter Ian Campbell has kept Mitchell out of action ever since. On the other side, the Bulls haven't run a successful trick play since the 2008 St. Petersburg Bowl, when wide receiver Theo Wilson threw a 14-yard pass to quarterback Matt Grothe. (Although you could consider the incomplete pass from Victor Marc to fellow receiver Andre Davis against Cincinnati two weeks ago as a success, since it drew a pass interference penalty on Camerron Cheatham.)